Part 250
Howie and Sarah had been awake for a little while talking and just holding each other when the phone rang. As usual, the phone was on Sarah’s side of the bed and Howie had to reach across her to answer it.
"Hello."
"Boss, heads up! Claudia is on her way up."
"How did she manage THAT? I thought Billy had tightened security."
Sarah heard the anger in Howie’s voice and she moved closer to him running her hand across his chest. "D, what’s wrong?" she asked softly.
Howie put his finger on her lips to silence her as he listened to Raoul.
"She told the hotel security that she was your wife and had lost her pass."
"Damn! They won’t put a call through from my REAL wife but they’ll let someone POSING as my wife through!"
"Well, here’s the kicker and you can chew Billy out for this but when she got to the elevator and OUR security, she produced a VALID pass and said she was headed up to see one of the dancers."
"How did she get a pass…NO, don’t answer that! I know EXACTLY how she got it. Thanks, Raoul!"
"Look, don’t answer the door and I’ll be there in a couple minutes to get her out of there."
"No, I’ll handle her. Just come on up in case she doesn’t want to leave."
"What about Sarah?"
Howie looked down at his wife as he smiled, "She’ll be fine. I’ve told her about Claudia."
Sarah groaned, "She’s HERE?"
Raoul heard Sarah and laughed, "I expect Claudia’s gonna regret her decision to get to you."
"Probably. Tell Fatima that I want to see her and Tammy as soon as possible." Hearing a knock at the door, Howie said, "Raoul, she’s here. I’ll talk to you in a few." He slammed the phone down and got up.
Sarah sat up and watched as he pulled his jeans on. "Howie, what are you going to do?"
"I’m going to deal with Claudia once and for all. Stay put!"
"No, Howard," said Sarah firmly. "I’m not going to hide from her."
Looking at Sarah and seeing the hurt in her eyes, he realized what he’d done. "I’m sorry, Angel. Get some clothes on and come on out."
Giving Sarah a kiss, Howie headed out to answer the door. Opening it, he didn’t have time to react. Claudia launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around him.
"Oh, Sweet D…I’m SO sorry for your loss. As soon as I heard I rushed right back to be with you."
Howie pushed her off him saying coolly, "That’s why you posed as my wife?"
Mistaking his anger for grief, Claudia said, "I had to do something to get up here to you. Oh, Sweet D, we can be together now…all those times you came here and wanted to be with me but couldn’t because of HER."
"HER has name…Sarah…and I never wanted to be with you."
"But, Sweet D, you never brought her to Toronto. There must have been a reason."
"There was. I didn’t want Sarah to have to deal with you."
Claudia tried again to put her arms around Howie as she said, "You’re so overcome with grief, you don’t know what you’re saying, Sweet D. We were meant to be together."
Again, Howie stopped her but before he could say anything, Sarah spoke up, "No, you weren’t meant to be. If you were, you’d still be together."
Claudia spun around to face Sarah in the doorway of the bedroom. She gave Sarah the once over, saying, "Who are you? Some cheap whore here trying to console my Sweet D?"
Sarah was dressed in one of Howie’s wife-beaters that fit her snugly revealing the small swell of her stomach and a pair of his shorts. She moved now to Howie putting her arms around him and said, "No, actually, I’m his WIFE…the REAL one. I take it you’re Claudia."
Howie kissed her and then said, "Claudia, this is Sarah…my wife."
Claudia was stunned. "But…the reports…"
"Were wrong…obviously," smiled Sarah. "And the reason I wasn’t
on that flight was because of morning sickness."
Claudia glared at her, "You’re pregnant?"
"With twins," gloated Sarah. "See, you could have had ALL this but you threw it away…because you didn’t understand Howie. If you had truly loved him, you’d have known he’d NEVER be unfaithful to you."
"That’s where you’re wrong," snapped Claudia. "He’s been
sleeping with Lisa ever since she was hired and I’m SURE he’s slept with her
since you two have been together."
Lisa was standing in the open door listening to the exchange between Sarah and Claudia and she now said angrily, "He TOLD you, we NEVER slept together. We were talking about YOU and how much he loved you. God, you were so stupid. Sarah’s right! You threw a good thing away with both hands because you were so blind."
"Personally, I’m glad you were so stupid," said Sarah moving to stand in front of Howie with his arms around her waist. "Because now I’m married to him and having his children."
"Claudia, I tried to be civil and I tried to make it possible for us to be friends, but it’s obvious you can’t handle that. Raoul is going to escort you out and if you EVER pull a stunt like posing as my wife again, I WILL have you arrested," warned Howie.
Taken back by Howie’ tone, Claudia began to tear up, "Sweet D…."
"It’s Howard to you," corrected Sarah.
Ignoring Sarah, Claudia went on, "I thought I meant something to you."
"Yeah, heartache," sniped Lisa.
Sarah looked at Howie and knew it was killing him to be this mean. She said softly, "I’ll give you a couple minutes."
"No, don’t go," he replied not letting go of her. "Cluadia, until you pulled this stunt, I did consider you a friend and yeah, I have a special place in my heart for you because you were my first love. That’s over! I’m VERY much in love with Sarah and she means more to me than you’ll ever understand. To waltz in here this morning after what has happened thinking that you could take her place so easily just proves that. Sarah was right. You could have had all this because I gave you my heart."
"No…your career had your heart," said Claudia meekly. "Why didn’t you ever bring Sarah to Toronto if you didn’t have feelings for me?"
"It’s none of your business and between Sarah and me. I think it’s time for you to leave."
Raoul had joined Lisa in the door and now took her by the arm to escort her out. As they left the room, Fatima and Tammy entered and Sarah grabbed Lisa’s arm pulling her into the bedroom.
Tammy eyed Claudia and whispered, "I’ll call you later."
Fatima asked, "Howie, what’s up?"
"I want something done about passes being given out to people who have NO business on our floor."
Fatima looked at Tammy knowing she was friends with Claudia. "I’m SURE it won’t happen again. I hope it didn’t cause any problems."
"No, not for Sarah. Tammy, it happens again, you WILL lose your job with us and I know Kevin and the others will back me on this."
In the bedroom, Lisa said, "Sarah, I hope you know there’s NOTHING going on between Howie and me other than a friendship."
"Yeah, I know."
"Man…I’ve never seen Howie so pissed off," said Lisa as she handed Sarah the clothes she’d brought her.
"I have," said Sarah as she looked at what Lisa had brought her. "This stuff is perfect. Thanks."
"No problem. I didn’t realize you were starting to show," grinned Lisa touching Sarah’s stomach. "God…no wonder Howie was so upset last night. Are you excited?"
Sarah giggled, "Yeah!! Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming…not that I’d ever want to wake up."
The two women laughed and Lisa said, "Howie is so in love with you and you two are such a perfect couple."
Howie had slipped in unnoticed by the two and now put his arms around Sarah from behind. "Yeah…we ARE, aren’t we? Angel, breakfast is here."
"Thanks and Lisa, thank you for the clothes. I’ll get them back to you."
"Not a problem. I’ll see you two at the venue later."
With Lisa gone, the couple stood in awkward silence. Simultaneously, they started to speak. "I swear…" "You don’t…"
Laughing, Howie said, "Go ahead."
"You have nothing to explain to me about Lisa. She’s your dance partner and someone you felt comfortable talking to. I know where I stand with you."
Howie grinned, "Your hormones must be calm today."
Sarah laughed, "Yeah, and I’ve had some sleep. Howie, I know you love me. I saw the pain in your eyes last night. I know that it’s ME you’re seeing when you close your eyes to sing and I’m the one you make love to at night."
"You are…my fire….my one…desire," sang Howie putting his hand over his heart.
Sarah laughed, "You goof!! I’m going to get a shower so we can go see Bec. You gonna call Nick?"
"No to taking a shower. Get one AFTER breakfast. I ordered you a ham and cheese omelet and yes to calling Nick. He said he wanted to go over before the others."
Together, the two went out to where room service was setting up their breakfast and Sarah said, "You know, that was pretty mean of you…answering the door with no shirt on."
"Oh, but YOU took full advantage of it, pressing against me and wearing something that showed off your belly to boot," teased Howie as he ran his hands across her stomach.
Sarah laughed, "YEP!! So does this mean we don’t have to have dinner with her in Ottawa?"
"Yes…this means no dinner in Ottawa," reassured Howie. "Let’s eat. I want to get to the hospital and take some pictures of Garrett and Becca for tonight’s show."